Crysis Warhead preorders are now being accepted at The EA Store, confirming
the recently revealed $29.99 price point for Crytek's upcoming first-person
shooter follow-up (story). The product description for the game
reveals the inclusion of Crysis Wars, "an expanded new multiplayer experience
with new online modes and 21 maps including seven all-new maps to battle it out
against other players" (thanks
inCrysis). Here's the whole feature list, which does not offer a footnote to
correspond with that asterisk:

• Pulse-racing new
installment from 2007's PC Game of the Year*: Play as Sergeant Sykes and
experience a whole new side of the battle. A standard combat mission behind
enemy lines becomes critical when you discover your enemies have captured
something of vital importance to the ensuing war. It’s down to you to retrieve
the cargo, at any cost.
• More explosive and dynamic minute to minute game play:
new customizable weapons, new vehicles, new photorealistic locations to explore,
and a fully interactive war zone to dominate.
• Enhanced human and alien AI: Intelligent enemies, bigger
challenges, and all-new ally squad support.
Includes Crysis Wars®, an expanded new multiplayer experience with new online
modes and 21 maps including seven all-new maps to battle it out against other
players.
• Crysis Warhead is a standalone release and does not
require ownership of Crysis to play.

Anyone else having trouble accessing the EA website. When access EA.com from the UK I get this garbled link: http://www.ea.com, www.ea.com/ea/http%3A//www.electronicarts.co.uk/

This happens if I follow the link from Google as well, so it's definitely something wrong with their website. I was just trying to see if the UK store had a price up yet. SporeCC was $10 in the US and £5 here, so I was hoping for a similar conversion rate for Crysis Warhead - £15 is fine but I'll be pissed of if EA try to charge more than £20.

Crysis may have required beefy hardware to run, but if you don't mind paying for it, you'll probably like it. The multiplayer has problems, but if you're not going to touch it anyway, you won't mind it much.

Well, I wouldn't class them as "beefy" - more simply infeasible for hardware of the time. The engine was also poorly coded as crossfire has barely any impact on performance, whereas games like COD4 gain as much as 90%. On the multiplayer, it's not so much that people weren't going to touch it anyway... it's that people were interested but found it wasn't worth playing.

I don't see why you two are arguing. Opinion is subjective.

Of course, but we were mainly trying to justify why we hold the positions we do. It simply went a bit far.

I just didn't like the 'Fuck you' part and you know why? Because you wouldn't say it to my face - just like the other guy wouldn't.

Well, the internet doesn't follow the same rules. Anonymity creates a different dynamic, much as is seen with drivers and road rage / flashing lights / flipping people off. You wouldn't believe how mental my mum would get in the car - a polar opposite to how she acts in person. I was making a point to counter your assertion that people that dislike Crysis must not like first person shooters in general; I found that offensive, hence my - perhaps overly - offensive response. It would probably have been better wording it as "fuck off", which is much more in keeping with how I'd respond in person.

NEway, I apologise. I don't have anything against you personally and I know I can be overly crude, which I guess is part of my internet persona. I think we both accept we could have handled this discussion more maturely.

OT: I'm interested to see what the new multiplayer experience entails. The multiplayer in the original Crysis was simply shocking (I was part of the online beta, so it may have changed since then)... it seemed like it just copied Battlefield 2, except without the balance and fun. You be killed at a distance, rarely saw your enemies, had to travel for ages to get anywhere (only to be killed by some bloody camper in a building), vehicles were overpowered, weapon upgrades were completely unnecessary and counterproductive. Pretty much everything was wrong.

I don't see why you two are arguing. Opinion is subjective. You either played Crysis, or you didn't. You either liked it, or you didn't.

Sure, there are many reasons why you "should" like it, or "shouldn't" like it, but sometimes they don't apply. Crysis may have required beefy hardware to run, but if you don't mind paying for it, you'll probably like it. The multiplayer has problems, but if you're not going to touch it anyway, you won't mind it much.

It's cool that you are in a band - I just didn't like the 'Fuck you' part and you know why? Because you wouldn't say it to my face - just like the other guy wouldn't.

Why abandon good manners just because your're anonymous? It's not big or clever (sorry for the cliche). Anyway we're all into games and probably a lot of the same ones too - so let's just leave it at that. I'm sure that you're nice guys really! And the fact that you're English is VERY cool as well(me too). Sorry for any insult caused; us PC gamers need to stick together really!

It wasn't a defense you tit: it was sarcasm - plain and simple since he didn't understand what I was getting at. And facetious doesn't mean what you think it means. Irony on the other hand does deal with the subtext of what has been written or said. It's to do with inference and deduction.

It's a Friday night mate - you should be out! Me...I'm looking after my son and can't go because it's the wife's turn. What the fuck are you doing in?

I'm a musician and I've been practicing for most of the day with my music duo; I really don't feel like going out. Plus I'm out tomorrow for a mate's gig. Not that I need to explain myself to you.

Don't talk tough to me you fucking loser.

You accused everyone that disliked Crysis of being wrong. I challenged you. You got upset and accused me of being 14, an internet tough guy, a wanker, a fucking loser... all because I started my post with "fuck you".

NEway, it's interesting that you didn't address any of my points, like I did with your posts, but instead resorted to childish insults. It's more pathetic that you tried to justify your maturity by mentioning your wife like she's some sort of trophy. Can I therefore infer you're a male chauvinist? See how stupid jumping to conclusions is?

I'd say that's kind of childish personally, but what do I know eh? Are you another 'hard man' too? Or are you just an arrogant fool like the other fella?

Already challenging other people? Do you realise how much of a hypocrite you are to accuse me of being an "internet tough guy"?

Can we please get back to discussing the game, like I did with my initial post? My insult was a tiny fraction of my post and insignificant to the overall sentiment. Feel free to criticise me when you post, you're certainly entitled to, but at least keep it about the game.

It's a Friday night mate - you should be out! Me...I'm looking after my son and can't go because it's the wife's turn. What the fuck are you doing in? Oh, wait you're on here being abusive - and that says it all! How old are you, 14 or something? Internet tough guy eh? Bet you're a black belt and a kick boxer and a really successful businessman too (with a Porsche). Oh and in the military too(SAS or SEAL's no doubt). Don't talk tough to me you fucking loser.

I mean - what a wanker!

OK, I was waiting for (and deserved) that but you must have missed my apology earlier on.Anyway, are you American because my last post was semi-ironic - which many of our cousins across the pond don't 'get'? I'm all for disagreement mate - just not bad manners, and yes I am a grown up and not a whining child that takes comments directed at someone else personally. I'd say that's kind of childish personally, but what do I know eh? Are you another 'hard man' too? Or are you just an arrogant fool like the other fella?

The only "arrogant, whiney, childish, fool" I see here is you. You expect people to take you seriously with the comments and back-handed insults you make? We can add 'ignorant' to the list of descriptives, as Theyarecomingforyou is from the UK, which really throws out your so called defense.

Do you even know the meaning of the word "ironic"? Because you used it incorrectly. You might find 'facetious" to be more accurate.

OK, I was waiting for (and deserved) that but you must have missed my apology earlier on. Anyway, are you American because my last post was semi-ironic - which many of our cousins across the pond don't 'get'? I'm all for disagreement mate - just not bad manners, and yes I am a grown up and not a whining child that takes comments directed at someone else personally. I'd say that's kind of childish personally, but what do I know eh? Are you another 'hard man' too? Or are you just an arrogant fool like the other fella?

It's a Friday night mate - you should be out! Me...I'm looking after my son and can't go because it's the wife's turn. What the fuck are you doing in? Oh, wait you're on here being abusive - and that says it all! How old are you, 14 or something? Internet tough guy eh? Bet you're a black belt and a kick boxer and a really successful businessman too (with a Porsche). Oh and in the military too(SAS or SEAL's no doubt). Don't talk tough to me you fucking loser.

and before you say you do love 'em, it's just that this was a bad one - please check the scores and stuff; maybe you don't like them as much as you thought you did!

Fuck you. I love first-person shooters but am happy to say I was very unimpressed with Crysis, both from a performance and gameplay perspective.

I mean, it ticks all the boxes: great visuals, awesome firefights and action generally, fantastic maps, high(est) level of interactivity, top sound FX, massive maps, stereotyped 'tough guy' characters and a reasonable premise (for a sci-fi action romp) much like those of 'aliens', 'predator' and 'the thing'. This is what an FPS is for God's sake.

Yeah, all the boxes: poor performance, cliched characters, weak plot, unbalanced gameplay (helicopters!), linear gameplay (felt MUCH more restricted than Far Cry), etc. I think it's you that needs to re-evaluate what a good FPS is. Go play TheOB (Half-Life 2: Ep2 / Team Fortress 2) or Call Of Duty 4, both of which have great singleplayer AND multiplayer AND run well AND have great graphics.

As for reviews - I don't live by them but I meant check them ALL out on metacritic or wherever (an average); surely they can't all be in EA's back pocket and it's pretty naive to suggest otherwise. Overall - it's a great game according to the majority

The published press? Yup. The majority? That cannot be inferred from that.

Crysis isn't terrible but it's very far from great. Performance is a serious issue, hence why my overclocked 4870 still experiences slowdown (especially at the end of the game where it's a joke). Even with that aside I found the gameplay average at best and pitiful in comparison to HL2:Ep2, with a multiplayer that isn't even worth talking about. Reviewers use higher spec machines than the average person and take little account to the performance overall, leading to the higher scores - even so I thought most were overly generous. Then there's the ditching of support to promote a game that is basically much of the same (including a lot of the levels). I think a lot of people were annoyed that Far Cry went downhill because of the mutants and with Crysis they simply replaced them with aliens... they didn't listen to what people wanted.

However, Crysis Warhead looks like a step in the right direction. It's cheaper, it's meant to run a lot better (which remains to be seen), it focuses on the stronger aspects of the game and, from the looks of it, attempts to address the multiplayer aspect (though unless they dramatically shrink the levels, change it to standard deathmatch and have levels without vehicles, won't be enough). I'm happy to support them if they've learnt their lessons and addressed the issues, though I will wait for reviews and word-of-mouth (forum posts, etc) and a demo before making a decision.

Now on the topic of Epic, let's talk Gears of War for PC...if I recall correctly, broken MP out of the box & shit all support. Now this isn't Epic so much as it is Microsoft, their publisher. Another game I didn't buy and won't ever buy.